This week at Chirp, Twitter’s first developer’s conference, co-founder Biz Stone announced that the popular microblogging service’s audience has grown to over 105 million registered users and is adding 300,000 new users per day. Increasingly, the pressure to keep up with all of the conversation in the network can feel overwhelming.
Twitter Lists provide a simple means of filtering conversation, conducting research and categorizing users you follow in the network. To create a list, simply click on the “Lists” button on a user’s profile and select “New list.” You can also “follow” other users’ lists and view the lists you’ve been added to.
Here are a few key tips for putting Twitter lists to use.
Curate Mini Networks
Twitter lists allow you the opportunity to categorize your followers and place them in mini networks. You can also follow lists created by other people in the network.
For example, I can’t possibly keep up with all of the conversation created by the 900 plus people I’m following in the network so I’ve created one list “We Are The Digital Kids” that includes key people like @markweaver, @kylecameron and @dailydoseofjess who I typically rely on for inspiration and links to great content that I can share on my blog.
You have the option of making your list public or private as well as syncing these lists with apps like Tweetie.
Link Love
If you set your list such that it’s publicly accessible, the Twitterer will be able to see that you’ve added him/her to your list, along with the name of the list. Make sure the name reflects positively on those users.
In many instances, users are very aware of the lists they’ve been added to. For example, @blagica mentioned that her “big win” was seeing that the Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) added her to its list. I was excited to see that Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) added me to his Tech Pundits list.
Consider how it makes users feel when they see that others are categorizing them as “Digital Experts” or “Inspiring Creatives.”
Use your lists to give props to the best of the best in your network.
Monitor a Niche
Leverage private Twitter lists to follow a regular feed of key audiences, stakeholders or media. By subscribing to a focused list of feeds relevant to your clients, you can easily immerse yourself in the conversation of that community and begin to understand what sparks their conversation in the network and monitor for relevant opportunities to engage them and build the relationship.
You can also add people to a list that you may not want to publically follow. For instance, if you want to keep tabs on competitive brands, add them to a private list and check in periodically to monitor their approach to engaging audiences in the network.
Understand Someone’s Influence
When researching users in the network, click on their “Lists” tab on their profile. See how many people have appreciated their interaction and contact within the network enough to pull them into a mini-feed and review the kinds of lists they are being added to. This will help provide perspective on the typical “followers” counts which can be inflated if someone is being followed by thousands of people but following tens of thousands to reach that followers number. For example, a blogger may be added to several “best of the best” lists by other influential bloggers. From that information, you will have at least an initial idea of how connected, trusted and respected he or she is in the network.
Use this as a qualitative means of judging influence in conjunction with Edelman’s TweetLevel tool.
Five Lists to Check Out
Here are a few lists I enjoy following. You can find more lists on Listorious and Mashable.
